The cut over Colby Covington’s eye at UFC Tampa was so bad that his longtime friend and cornerman Chael Sonnen was ready to stop his fight against Joaquin Buckley if the doctor and the referee didn’t do it first.
It was a rough night at the office for Covington after he got battered around the octagon for two-plus rounds with Buckley in control throughout, but a gash opened early in the fight only continued to get worse with each passing minute. By the time the fight was deep into the third round, Covington was wearing a crimson mask but even worse, the blood from the cut was pouring right into his eye and even Sonnen felt like enough was enough.
“He’s busted open so bad the doctor has to look at it three times,” Sonnen said about the fight on his YouTube channel. “Twice he stops the action to let it keep going. The third time he said ‘we can’t go anymore.’ I was going to stop that fight. I already grabbed the towel. When the doctor came in for the third time, and I’m watching that blood, it’s not stopping and it is going into the eye. That’s the only thing you’re really looking for.
“When we as fight fans, we as tough guys, think the doctor should have stopped it, we’re talking about it doesn’t really matter how bad the cut is from our perspective as long as it’s not going in the eye. If it’s blinding a guy, it doesn’t matter if it’s a little or a lot, if it’s in his eye, and he can no longer see out of that eye, it’s the same thing. It’s the exact same thing.”
Chael Sonnen reveals he was ready to throw in the towel in Colby Covington’s fight at UFC Tampa - MMA Fighting
